Lululemon under Investigation by Canada’s Competition Bureau

The Competition Bureau of Canada is probing Lululemon amid accusations of deceptive environmental marketing practices. Following a complaint from an advocacy group accusing the company of “greenwashing,” concerns have surfaced regarding alleged misinformation about its environmental impact. A spokesperson for the Bureau confirmed the commencement of an investigation under the Competition Act into these claims but clarified that there’s no presumption of wrongdoing at this stage. Stand.earth, the advocacy group, revealed a letter from the Bureau dated April 26, 2024, indicating an inquiry into whether Lululemon’s marketing contains inaccurate assertions regarding its greenhouse gas emissions.

The group had earlier petitioned the bureau to scrutinize the company’s advertising, labeling some of it as “false and misleading.”

Lululemon remained silent when queried about the accusations by the Monday deadline.

The complaint from Stand.earth highlighted Lululemon’s 2020 “Be Planet” campaign, wherein the company asserts that “our products and actions avoid environmental harm and contribute to restoring a healthy planet.”

Kitchin characterized Lululemon’s marketing in the campaign as “greenwashing,” a term she defines as when “a company or business utilizes environmental messaging to deceive customers or misrepresent the environmental impact of their products.”

She emphasized that the Competition Bureau’s acceptance of Stand.earth’s request for investigation “should act as a serious warning not only to Lululemon but to all other fashion and corporate entities employing similar vague, positive, greenwashing tactics.”

Stand.earth’s request urges the bureau to pursue a judicial order compelling Lululemon to retract the Be Planet campaign, issue apologies to all Canadian customers, and allocate a fine of up to three percent of its global gross revenues to the Environmental Damages Fund, a Canadian government initiative aimed at addressing climate change.

As per Lululemon’s 2022 annual impact report, over 60 percent of its apparel is composed of polyester and nylon, materials derived from fossil fuels.

The reports spanning from 2020 to 2022 highlight Lululemon’s claim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) at its owned and operated facilities by 78 percent between 2015 and 2022.

Stand.earth’s complaint referenced data from Lululemon’s report indicating a doubling of GHGs generated from upstream and downstream production, reaching 1,691,009 tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 compared to 829,456 tonnes in 2020.

While Lululemon does not disclose its worldwide gross revenues in quarterly updates, its net revenue after expenses was reported to be nearly $10 billion in 2023, according to its 2023 year-end report.

The spokesperson for the Bureau declined to speculate on the timeline for completing its investigation, deeming it inappropriate to do so.